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FAA Nationwide Ground Stop: What We Know About the Air Traffic Control Communications Failure

RAGE Global · United States · Aviation · Developing · 5 min read

By Carlos KfouryPublished

Slide 01 of 02

  1. Cover, U.S. aviation, 13 November 2026, reported by Flightradar24. A flight-tracker screenshot shows thousands of yellow aircraft icons crowded over the United States. Headline: 3,000+ flights still in the air. Departures are frozen at every U.S. airport; crews have been told to expect airborne holding as flights already en route keep coming in. U.S.-bound: about 3,100. Since 9/11: the second. Departures: halted. Sources: Flightradar24 via AeroTime, AP.

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The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop at every U.S. airport on Friday 13 November 2026, after a communications failure hit the centers that control high-altitude air traffic. No new flights are taking off. About 3,100 aircraft already bound for U.S. airports are still in the air, and crews have been told to expect airborne holding. It is only the second nationwide ground stop since the 11 September 2001 attacks. No cause has been given, and no time has been set for departures to resume. The FBI is reported to be examining whether a faulty software update was responsible, and the White House says it sees no indication of a "nefarious act."

Key takeaways

  • The order: The FAA stopped all departures from U.S. airports shortly before 4 p.m. ET, citing "extraordinary circumstances" and safety.
  • The cause, so far: A communications problem at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it hit all of them; the FAA's own statement says multiple.
  • In the air: Flightradar24 counted about 3,100 airborne aircraft bound for U.S. airports when the stop began.
  • Rare: The second nationwide ground stop since 9/11. The first was in January 2023, when a pilot-notice computer system failed.
  • The investigation: the FBI is reported to be probing whether a bad software update caused it (Bloomberg). The White House says there is no indication of a "nefarious act."
  • Not known yet: what failed, why, and when flights restart.

Confidence: OFFICIAL for the Transportation Secretary's and FAA's statements; REPORTED for the flight counts, the cause investigation and the impact, which come from news reports and flight trackers. This article reflects reporting from the afternoon and evening of Friday 13 November 2026. Update, 14 November: the FAA lifted the ground stop at about 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday. See our follow-up on the lifting, the stated cause and the flight disruption.

What happened#

The FAA issued the ground stop in the afternoon of Friday 13 November. Its advisory said departing traffic would remain on the ground until further notice, and that inbound international flights would be handled case by case.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced it on X:

"The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."

— Sean Duffy, U.S. Transportation Secretary

The FAA's own statement, reported by CNBC, describes the problem as affecting "multiple" Air Route Traffic Control Centers, not all of them. The agency said the stop was ordered "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," and news reports describe it as a "temporary telecommunications outage." Officials said aircraft in the air were not in danger and that there was no national security threat, according to news reports. Neither the secretary nor the agency has said what failed.

Why these centers matter#

The U.S. has 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers. They handle aircraft between airports, at cruising altitude, rather than take-offs and landings at the airport itself. ABC News describes them as responsible for all flights above 18,000 feet.

If controllers in those centers cannot talk reliably to pilots, or to each other, the safest option is to stop adding aircraft to the sky. That is what a ground stop does: aircraft on the ground stay there, while those already flying are brought in.

The flights still in the air#

What Figure Source
Aircraft airborne and bound for U.S. airports ~3,100 Flightradar24
Flights in the air when the order came roughly 3,000 Fox Weather
New departures none FAA advisory

Flightradar24 said no additional aircraft were taking off. The FAA then advised crews to expect airborne holding at airports across the country because of equipment outages, AeroTime reported. According to Fox News, some passengers already in the air were told they could stay airborne for up to another two hours.

United Airlines said its flights already in the air would continue, and that new domestic flights would not depart while the ground stop stays in place.

How rare is this?#

Date What happened Cause
11 September 2001 U.S. airspace closed after the terrorist attacks Security
11 January 2023 All domestic departures paused, for under two hours Failure of the NOTAM pilot-notice system
13 November 2026 All departures from U.S. airports stopped Communications issue at the en-route centers

ABC News and NBC News report that this is the second time since 9/11 that the FAA has ordered a nationwide ground stop; one outlet counts it as the third if the 2001 closure is included. The 2023 stop was later traced to a contractor's accidental deletion of a file.

Earlier the same afternoon, the FAA had already stopped traffic at both of Chicago's airports, O'Hare and Midway, because of an equipment outage, ABC News reported. It has not said whether the two problems are linked.

What officials say about the cause, and what is being investigated#

  • FAA and the Transportation Department: a communications problem at the en-route centers. No root cause has been given.
  • The FBI: Bloomberg reported, via Axios, that the FBI is examining whether a software update that went wrong caused the failure. It is not clear whether the update involved any system tied to Friday's problem.
  • The White House: said there was no indication of a "nefarious act," according to CBS News.
  • Homeland Security: reports of Secretary Markwayne Mullin's remarks differ. One has him saying there was no sign of a threat; another says officials were not yet dismissing a cyberattack and that the event "isn't another 9/11." Mullin also said officials had not discussed a time frame for resolving it.
  • Microsoft: RAGE X found no confirmed link between the ground stop and the Microsoft 365 outage that began on Thursday 12 November. One report quotes Mullin as saying the two are unrelated; RAGE X could not verify that. For that outage, see our reporting on Microsoft's outage.

The impact beyond the airports#

  • Cancellations: CNN reported that flight cancellations were climbing with no timeline for ending the stop, and one travel outlet counted more than 1,000.
  • Accident response: Axios reported that the stop was preventing National Transportation Safety Board investigators from reaching the scene of Friday's collision between a Mississippi River cruise ship and a tanker in New Orleans.

A separate outage: the National Weather Service radar website#

At the same time, the National Weather Service posted a notice that it was aware of a national radar outage on radar.weather.gov and was investigating. Forecasts on its websites were also affected, with the stated reason being internet and communication issues.

A National Weather Service radar network status page showing 200 of 203 sites up, above the agency's notice that it is aware of a national radar outage on radar.weather.gov

Screenshot supplied to RAGE Intel: the weather service's radar status page at 22:00 UTC (5 p.m. Eastern) on 13 November, showing 200 of 203 radar sites reporting, above its notice of a national radar outage.

The two events were reported close together, but no link has been established. Weather radar and air traffic control communications are separate systems, and neither agency has said whether they share any network. The status page suggests the radars themselves were mostly reporting normally, so the problem looks to be with the website rather than the radar network.

What we know, and what we don't#

Known:

  • Every U.S. airport is under a ground stop, and departures are halted.
  • The problem is in communications at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
  • FAA technicians are investigating.
  • About 3,100 aircraft bound for the U.S. were airborne when it began.

Not known:

  • The cause. CNBC reported that internal Alaska Airlines messages pointed to communications and radar problems. The FAA has not confirmed this.
  • Whether it was an attack. The White House says there is no indication of a "nefarious act" and CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources, that preliminary reports indicate it is not a cyberattack. Reports of the Homeland Security Secretary's remarks differ, and the FBI is examining a possible software update.
  • All or some centers. The secretary says all; the FAA statement says multiple.
  • When it ends. Reports gave different expiry times for the stop. The FAA has given no time for departures to resume.

FAA ground stop: questions answered#

Is there a nationwide ground stop? Not any more. The FAA ordered one on Friday 13 November 2026 and lifted it at about 8:15 p.m. ET, after more than four hours, according to news reports. Delays and cancellations continued afterwards.

Why did the FAA stop all flights? Because of a communications problem at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which handle high-altitude traffic between airports. The agency cited "extraordinary circumstances" and safety.

Are planes in the air in danger? Officials said no. Aircraft already airborne continue to their destinations, and crews were told to expect airborne holding.

Was it a cyberattack? No official has said it was. The White House says there is no indication of a "nefarious act," and the FBI is examining a possible faulty software update.

How many flights were affected? About 3,100 aircraft bound for U.S. airports were airborne when the stop began, according to Flightradar24, and cancellations were climbing.

What should travellers do? Check with the airline for the status of a flight, and the FAA's National Airspace System status page for airport conditions.

What to watch#

  • The FAA's next advisory, on when departures restart and in what order.
  • An official cause, and whether the Chicago outage earlier in the day was the first sign of it.
  • Knock-on delays. Aircraft and crews will be out of position for the evening and Saturday's first waves.
  • The FBI's findings on whether a software update was involved.
  • Whether it is called an attack. So far the early indications point away from one.
  • The weather-radar outage: whether the weather service or the FAA says the two events are connected.

Our read · RAGE Intel assessment

A single communications failure was enough to stop the busiest air system in the world. That shows how much of U.S. air traffic control still rests on a few points of failure, and it will sharpen the argument over the FAA's ageing equipment.

The fact that the FBI is looking at a faulty software update, and that the White House sees no sign of an attack, points towards an internal failure rather than an outside one. That is a reading of the early signals, not a finding. Until the FAA gives a cause, treat any claim of sabotage or cyberattack as unconfirmed, and treat the coincidence with the weather-service outage as just that until either agency says otherwise.

This is an assessment, not a finding.

This story is developing. RAGE X will update it as new information is confirmed.

Sources#

Flight-tracker image on the cover slide: screenshot. Photo of Sean Duffy: file.

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